Month: September 2015

The Site Search SNAFU Even The Biggest Sites Make

search-siteSite search is radically important. Site visitors that use search boxes are more likely to know specifically what they want and are closer to conversion than those just browsing.

For ecommerce site search, it’s table stakes to handle plurals and misspellings. Many sites employ autosuggest that help direct customers to successful search results.

One area where even the top online retailers consistently fall down on is handling synonyms. For terms that can be correctly spelled in more than one way, default search dictionaries often don’t accommodate “correct misspellings.” It’s up to your merchandising team to anticipate these and program your search-merchandising rules accordingly.

Finding examples is like shooting fish in a barrel. For instance:

Target: “2 piece bathing suit,” “2-piece bathing suit,” “two piece bathing suit”

target-suits

ASOS: “snake skin,” “snakeskin”

snakeskin

Best Buy: “headphones,” “head phones”

hgeadphones

Nieman Marcus: “v-neck,” “v neck,” “vneck”

Nieman Marcus handled v-neck and v neck the same, delivering the same number and presentation of results. Vneck, however, autocorrects to “neck.”

just-neck

Abercrombie handled all variations of “v-neck” differently both in number of results and order of results shown.

Staples: “inkject printer,” “ink jet printer”

staples-inkjet

How to remedy

1. Check your site search logs. To understand how your customers describe your products, your best starting point is your own site search logs.

2. Use keyword research tools. They’re not just for SEOs and PPC managers. Your merchandisers should be familiar with how to use them to identify additional terms to bake into your search tools.

3. Brainstorm. Use your intuition, consider how products are described in other cultures and countries (e.g. slow cookers vs crock pots, tank tops vs vests). Think outside the (search) box.

This is a big job, so start with your top selling products/categories or your top abandoned search terms. Run usability checks to ensure the search results appear the way you want them to.

Don’t leave site search on autopilot / auto pilot / auto-pilot!

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Does Your Mobile Home Page Drive Visitors Away?

mobile-bad-experienceConsumer research suggests mobile shoppers prefer mobile websites to retail apps.

But if you’ve invested in a companion app and wish to use your mobile home page to promote it, be careful about how you pitch your app — you may unwittingly foster FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about your mobile experience.

Karmaloop’s (old) mobile home page suggests its mobile site is inferior to its app with the text “for the best mobile experience, we suggest using our app,” and the “shop our mobile site” button styled less prominently, almost blurring with the background. #badkarma

karmaloop-neg

Thankfully Karmaloop has abandoned this tactic, eliminating the friction of the splash page by sending visitors directly to the mobile site, showing an OS-specific app banner which appears only after the visitor begins to scroll, and is easy to close or ignore. #goodkarma

goodkarma

1-800-Contacts’ splash page attempts to persuade visitors to download its app with free shipping “always, always, always.” Does this mean web orders pay for shipping? #FUD

1800contacts

“No thanks, take me to the mobile site instead” is a defeating call-to-action, topped only by 1-800-Flowers’ “No thanks, I’d rather pay full price.”

flowers-mobile

Mobile conversion begins with keeping visitors on your site. Don’t encourage home page bounces by presenting mobile apps as a better experience, suggesting app users get better prices and promotions, or using negative language in your call-to-action labels.

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8 Tips for Mobile Customer Service Usability

mobi-customer-serviceWhen it comes to mobile commerce, the effort typically goes into getting mobile websites and apps live and mastering responsive design, and obsessing over home page, product page, category, search, menu navigation and mobile checkout usability.

But mobile customer service is too important to overlook considering 63% of US adults use mobile to access customer support several times each month, and 90% have had poor experiences.

How can you shore up your #mcustomerservice? Read on.

1. Make service content and tools accessible on mobile

I shouldn’t have to point this out, but believe it or not, I’ve encountered mobile shops with NO way to access customer service from the mobile version of the site. For responsive sites, ensure your customer service and self-serve tools are also mobile friendly (e.g telecom menus).

2. Ensure your service pages are mobile friendly

Ensure responsive or adaptive layouts are not only designed for your home, category, search and product pages, but accommodate all site content.

guess-garble

Make sure you test for the most popular devices and models so the above doesn’t happen.

3. Don’t bury your links

Web users scan menus for trigger words. In this case, “Customer Service,” “Customer Care,” “Help” or even “Contact Us.”

Of the sites I tested, many buried their customer service links in over-populated menu lists. Here are just 2 examples:

hidden-help

too-many-organiz

Side-note: If you choose light-on-dark design, avoid gray type and opt for white. The example above may be impossible to read for users in low-lighting or with vision problems.

Side-note 2: Between ALLCAPS and Mixed Case, opt for Mixed Case, it’s easier to read/comprehend, especially on mobile devices. And web usability is all about reducing cognitive load.

4. Make room

Ensure there is enough space between tappable targets such as links, menu buttons, etc. According to Baymard Institute, your minimum hit area should be 7×7 pixels between link targets.

Kmart does a nice job:

tappable-friendly

5. Consider making service a pinned menu option

Guess’ mobile site has a native app-like bottom-anchored menu, which stays put as the user scrolls through content. This is well-optimized for hand-held use, and the Service link is most easily accessed by thumb.

mobile-guess-service

6. Show your digits

Mobile operating systems support click-to-call directly from text, email, paid search ads and websites. Don’t force the customer to email you. Ensure your telephone number is easily accessible wherever a customer may seek support – from navigation menus to product pages, FAQ and Help content, and of course – checkout.

I’ve found several examples of this done poorly, for instance:

no-contact-info

It’s a good idea to style your phone numbers the same as any link, including underline, as not all mobile users understand they can just click to call directly.

worst-instance

7. Support Live Chat

42% of consumers have used live chat on mobile, but most ecommerce sites don’t offer it.

Kudos to Karmaloop for offering the feature, but a step-up would be to include the link from this section, rather than forcing the customer to scroll to the top navigation menu.

where-to-find-help

Let customers know what hours live chat is available, including time zone. (Even better, use geoIP to serve the correct help version with the user’s correct time zone).

north-face-help

And avoid calling your telephone option “a live chat.”

live-chat-mobile-serve-page

8. Connect the dots

To understand your omnichannel customer service performance, you may wish to identify mobile users that call your service center. Cabela’s does this by issuing support IDs.

cross-channel-id

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Back to School: The ABCs of Ecommerce

abcIt’s Partner Thursday Monday! Today’s post is contributed by ICF Interactive. Adobe’s 2014 North American Partner of the Year, ICF Interactive is a full-service interactive marketing agency that guides brands through informed strategy, inspired design, and technical know-how.

For most of the United States, it’s back to school season. Ask any kid what he or she has covered in the first week back, and you’ll likely hear “enh – just a review from last year.” That got us thinking, while brands are entering into new and unfamiliar territory in:

• Customer experience management technology, strategies, and processes
• The potential of the Internet of Things, and
• Journey mapping and innovative, real-time relationship building

…that we should feature our own quick review on the basics of eCommerce. While this list is by no means exhaustive, these items are still questions and concerns we regularly encounter. Read on to reacquaint yourself with the ABCs of eCommerce, and although we won’t be quizzing you at the end, your passing or failing will be determined by what your customers think about your brand, the touch-points you’re creating, and the online shopping experience you deliver.

A

Adapt to your customers’ evolving needs, shopping habits, and desires for easily accessible content.

B

Build a robust technology environment that’s flexible and scalable – for your brand’s growing interactive marketing needs and fluctuating number of site visitors.

C

Create online stores with brick and mortar layouts in mind – easy steps from the aisle (product or landing pages) to cart to the checkout.

D

Devote time to site and process check-ups, especially before high-traffic events and the holiday shopping season. (In the US that’s generally from Thanksgiving to January of the following year).

E

Experiment with A/B testing, surfacing variations of landing page content to segments of your customers to determine which ones lead to higher conversion rates.

F

Functionality > fancy design. Customers will leave if your site takes too long to load or if the browser can’t render the page, such as flash on an Android device.

G

Get social with your consumers. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram lend themselves well to online relationship-building and engagements for B2C brands, while LinkedIn is great for B2B organizations.

H

Hosting, the cloud in particular, is a game-changer. In addition to speed, a strong hosting solution enables flexibility, can reduce overall operating costs, and ensures the health of an organization’s owned digital properties.

I

Integrate, integrate, integrate. Integrate your technology systems, your internal teams, your processes, and marketing strategies.

J

Journey mapping is essential to understanding the needs of the customer; here’s a quick guide courtesy of our own Mary Carter and Deanna Peiffer.

K

Keyword analysis activities will help your customers find your online store through improving search engine optimization (SEO), as well as once users are on your site via a powerful, intuitive indexing engine.

L

Listen to your customers, your communities, and your competitors. Hootsuite is a great example of how a brand can improve its user experience through listening to constructive (albeit blunt) criticism.

M

Mobile is increasingly becoming the go-to gateway to conversions, beginning with research. eCommerce brands can’t afford to ignore mobile.

N

Nurture leads with targeted emails, social outreach, and loyalty programs. But with this in mind, lose the annoying marketing tactics.

O

Omni-channel commerce is “an interconnectedness between every touch-point from the perspective of the consumer” and essential to building the store of the future. Here’s multi-channel versus omni-channel as explained by our experience-driven commerce partner Elastic Path.

P

Product, promotion, placing, and price have been all but replaced by the cohesive, user-friendly shopping experience that brands develop and deliver. Loyalty that is fostered by relevant engagements and unparalleled customer service will improve customer acquisition and retention rates.

Q

Quickly resolve complaints, site issues, and concerns. Customers are taking to social media more than ever to voice opinions and exploit poor experiences, and it’s imperative to respond quickly and effectively to an #epicfail.

R

Recurring orders should be automated to save time and effort – both for your brand and your customer.

S

Solutions are many regarding B2B and B2C eCommerce needs. You may wish for help through the process of selecting the right mix of technology and process for your brand’s needs.

T

Technology should facilitate sales, and needs to be the framework through which your eCommerce strategy is delivered. When developing an eCommerce store, consider your brand’s current and future goals, and build an environment that will support both.

U

Use your customer profiles, including order history, demographics, and other data to engage with individuals. Up-selling and cross-selling can be achieved and improved with the right technology, targeted strategy, and personalized content.

V

Validate your eCommerce strategy with analytics. What was successful in the past might now be costing you business.

W

Weekly ads, local deals, and coupons should to be streamlined across the off and online shopping experience. Ensure your brand isn’t frustrating your customers with confusing offers and gimmicky sales.

X

X marks the spot where a user can close a window – if your eCommerce site can’t be navigated easily across all devices, it might also indicate the spot where a customer leaves your site completely.

Y

Yellow is used to grab attention. The aesthetic of your site can positively or negatively impact the buyer’s mood and feelings about your brand; design carefully.

Z

Zoom, multiple image views, and dynamic features such as the ability to change color, size, and other product features can enhance the shopping experience – creating an in-store feel to a virtual experience. Create ways for customers to evaluate products as they would in a physical store, leaving little room for questions or hesitation.

Experience-driven commerce solutions and strategy should be as easy as 1-2-3 for your customers to navigate and use, even as your brand and its technology advances.

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5 Holiday Conversion Problems and How to Fix ‘Em

holiday-spendingAs the “official” holiday season rapidly approaches (for some early birds, it’s already here), prepare for a massive uptick in sales – but also for unique problems that come with the busy season. Let’s examine 5 conversion problems and what you can do about them.

Site traffic increases

Peak shopping times spike sales but the additional load on your servers may slow down your site or crash it altogether. Even the largest ecommerce sites have crashed at the worst possible times, so no site can be over-prepared. Press your IT team to run traffic spike simulations, use a CDN (content delivery network) and leverage multiple servers. You can’t afford not to.

Page load speed affects your conversion rate and even SEO, so don’t neglect to fix the “little things” that add up to big drags on site performance. Use Google’s Page Speed tool to grab an itemized and prioritized report that quantifies the seconds you’ll save by tuning your site.

Comparison shoppers

Comparison shopping increases during the holiday season, which means more traffic and more abandoned carts. It also means more clicks on your PPC ads, and likely higher click prices. Converting comparison shoppers is challenging, but the following tips give you a leg up:

1. Fix “leaks” in your PPC program early. Look for high spend, low converting keywords and adjust bids accordingly. Add appropriate negative keywords or even pause certain keywords for the holiday if they’re stealing budget from better targeted words.

2. Focus on landing pages. Landing pages now play an even larger role in Google’s Quality Score formula. This means low keyword relevance, high bounce rates and slow page loads cost you more per click, and naturally such pages convert less shoppers. Don’t just focus on filling your landing page with keywords, plaster value propositions for both your product and your business all over the landing page. Perform A/B testing on copy and design to reduce bounce rates, and apply the tips from Google Page Speed test to each landing page you tune.

3. Use remarketing. Regardless of what campaign your visitor came through or which page of your site he or she abandoned from, you can target visitors with remarketing. Remarketing allows you to show display or text ads that appear on other sites your abandoner visits around the web, including Facebook. Remarketing keeps your brand top-of-mind, and is especially helpful for new site visitors who may not remember exactly which sites they visited while comparison shopping.

4. Save carts for 30+ days. The holiday season spans November and December, so a long cookie window for holding cart contents is your best bet for recovering sales from abandoners who were simply deferring their purchase decision, or who were won back from Remarketing campaigns.

5. Salvage stockouts. If you choose to keep sold out items in your catalog, make sure you provide alternative product suggestions or offer an “email me when this item is back in stock” feature. Estimated re-stock dates are helpful during peak season, as shoppers don’t have too long to wait.

Sometimes products sell out between the time the customer adds the product to the cart and is ready to check out. Staples notifies customers clearly in the cart and shows plenty of related items to save the sale.

As popular items sell out, you want to make sure your paid search campaigns keep up so you’re not driving clicks to products you can’t sell. Also ensure your internal site search tool pushes sold out items to the bottom of search and category results when sorted by Relevancy. Amazon even allows shoppers to include or exclude OOS (out of stock) items in search and category results.

Shipping cutoff dates

Big FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) for holiday shoppers is “will it get here on time?” Make it very obvious where to find your shipping cut-off dates and delivery options, not just on your home page but product pages and shopping cart pages as well.

After the shipping cutoff date, promote offer e-certificates for last-minute shoppers.

Coupon hunters

Shoppers know coupons and shipping offers abound on the ‘Net. When shown a coupon code box in checkout, many shoppers will leave your site, head to the search engine and snipe a code from an affiliate “deals” site. Not only does this reduce the purchase price, you likely pay a nice chunk to the affiliate that didn’t refer the sale (which also messes up your campaign attribution by overwriting cookies).

One fix is to suppress coupon code boxes unless the customer has been referred by an affiliate or your own email campaign. (You may also choose to auto-apply the coupon only for such customers).

A second solution is provide your own coupon codes on a URL from your own domain. This should rank highly in search engines for “your brand + coupon” and will save you those precious commission points.

Macy’s does this nicely, but keep in mind, showing everyone your coupon codes means you’ll sell very little at full price.

Finally, a third option is to make your coupon entry field very discreet — just a text link, rather than an open field which acts as a visual trigger to promote promo-seeking behavior. Text links to expand a coupon entry field is less noticeable, but those with a coupon code will look for it.

Webrooming

The opposite of showrooming (visiting a store with intent to buy online), webrooming shoppers use your website to research purchases they intend to make offline (from your business or a competitor’s).

Some webroomers use your site to research purchases from your business in-store. Ideally you employ excellent cross-channel tracking (for example, the customer is motivated to stay logged into an account to build and manage wishlists, and in-store purchases are always connected to a customer loyalty account). When this is not possible, over-communicate ship-to-store and reserve-and-collect service on product pages and in site headers.

Consider treating interaction with your in-store inventory tool a micro-conversion, a signal of intent to buy from your physical channel. While you may not be able to track the in-store sale (including purchase total), you can add these visitors to a display remarketing campaign to keep your site top-of-mind (that hot item might be selling out everywhere in-store).

Final note

These tips can be applied to any peak season your business may incur, so even if you find it too late to make some of these changes for this year, plan to put them in place and you’ll be prepared for the other spikes you enjoy over the next 12 months.

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